Prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalised children: retrospective study in a Spanish tertiary-level hospital

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the prevalence of malnutrition among paediatric patients at the time of hospital admission throughout a calendar year in a tertiary-level hospital and to identify those patients and/or groups of pathologies with a higher risk of malnutrition. DESIGN: Observational (retrospective evaluation of nutrition status). SETTING: Navarra Hospital Complex, Pamplona, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 852 patients hospitalised in 2013 in a Spanish tertiary-level paediatric hospital (462 males and 390 females). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sex, age, body mass index at the moment of admission and days of hospitalisation and diagnosis codified according to the International Classification of Diseases were registered. RESULTS: The prevalence of malnutrition patients registered at the moment of admission was 8.2%. Diseases of the nervous system (22.9%), together with diseases of the respiratory system (22.9%), infectious diseases (18.6%), congenital malformations (11.4%) and diseases of the genitourinary system (8.6%) account for 84.4% of the cases with malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence rate for malnutrition in paediatric patients at the moment of admission in our hospital was 8.2%, being a figure similar to those published in occidental countries. It should be mandatory to accomplish an initial screening and follow-up during hospitalisation of younger patients and those suffering from diseases of the nervous and/or respiratory system and, especially, from congenital diseases.